Originally published in the May 2003 Issue of Link & Learn.

What two things do leaders of past empires and leaders of today have in common? Culture and communication!

During the Roman Empire, Latin was the lingua franca used by citizens and those wishing to do business with the citizenry. Later, during the British Empire, English became the common bond, later augmented by more modern forms of communication from the packet ship, the newspaper, the telegraph, and eventually the telephone. Communication held the culture together. Leaders of the culture, be it an empire or a business, use their communication to guide, teach, and inspire their organizations. Culture refers to the values, norms and behaviors that characterize organizations. Communication is the glue that holds organizations together. Leaders throughout history have used the communication to nurture culture and propel the organization forward. He who communicates well builds a strong culture and thereby rules!

Communication as the Unifier

Communication enables leaders to bring people together under a common cause. The founding fathers built the Unites States upon the fundamentals of liberty and justice to create a new nation. Likewise, Herb Kelleher, a Texas lawyer with airline litigation experience, created a new kind of no-frills airline that provides inexpensive point-to-point air travel for customers. While the ideas of each enterprise were noble, what sustained them overtime was effective leadership founded on a strong culture united in purpose.

While it is common among human development experts to refer to cultures as good vs. bad, nurturing vs. toxic, or enterprising vs. de?motivating, cultures are actually neither -- they simply are like air. It is the people within a culture, breathing the air, that define what the culture is, or is not. More to the point, it is the leaders within the culture that point them in the proper direction. Washington and Kelleher did their jobs well; the modern robber barons like Ken Lay (Enron), John Rigas (Adelphia), and Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco) did not.

Communication to Lead

Leadership then becomes the salient edge in the success or peril of a culture. And is it through communication that leaders set the agenda, push for results, and evaluate the progress that makes the difference.

Here are some things leaders can do to leverage their communication to lead the organization:

• Listen. The first thing a new leader thinks he/she has to do is to talk. Not so fast! Much better to listen first. Get the lay of the land and then make a move.
  
• Set Expectations. People need to know where you want them to go. So you have to tell them with words and actions. Let people know what you expect and by when.
  
• Treat people with respect. All too often leaders forget that words can sting. Some bad bosses get their jollies by making others feel small; however, more often leaders, under pressure themselves, forget the niceties and are short and curt. Don't forget to say please and thank you -- simple words, but they go along way toward enlisting hearts and minds to your side.
  
• Motivate. With a big enough stick, you can force people to do what you want them to. Faced with a demotion or firing, people will comply, but that's no way to manage - these tactics are de?motivating, in the extreme. The challenge for managers is to find ways to create conditions for people to motivate themselves. Doing this and creating motivation perpetuates itself. People want to do well for themselves as well as for the organization. A way to create a culture of self?motivated individuals is to talk it up. Show people what they can do. Play up the results. Celebrate the wins.
  
• Bring together. Culture is about belonging -- people coming together for a common purpose. Leaders bring people together by talking up the mission of the company and by exemplifying what the people in the organization stand for.
  
• Confer authority. Be seen with people you want to others to respect. George W. Bush makes a point of be seen with his aides; he also visits their offices.1 In doing so, Bush is communicating that he trusts these people and they are to be trusted too. Association with power connotes power, and a good leader can use it to spread his influence, which helps him get things done. No leader acts in a vacuum; leadership needs followership.
  
• Teach. Back in our days as hunter-gatherers, the good hunters showed the young aspiring men of the tribe to track, spot, and bring down game for food. The same holds today -- leaders teach their followers. And they teach in two ways: explicitly and implicitly. They may teach how to do a task, but more often they teach, by example, how to treat people and how to bring out the best in other people. Their communication then reinforces the culture.
  
• Inspire. Ultimately, leadership comes down to getting people to do something for the greater good. Whether it was Moses rallying the Israelites out of Egypt, or Rudy Giuliani rallying New Yorkers to get back to work in the wake of 9/11, these are examples of leaders inspiring their people do something. Their communication supported their message and enriched the culture by doing so.

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